This has been happening all up and down. I asked the interpreter to read zip files or uploaded single php files. It simply cannot and will not read a single file. It was working fine when I first used it; I decided to pay for ChatGPT and now it won’t read files. This is beyond horrendous. I literally paid for a service that seems to stop working after you buy it. It won’t read any files, it says it can’t read any; I’ve logged out, restarted browser.
The only way it reads files is if I started a new session / conversation. I paid to get help with code, and it won’t read the codebase unless I restart sessions repeatedly? What? How is this not a bug? The bot says the retrieval function gets deactivated during sessions which is beyond insane. Why on earth would a session, designed to build and modify code, stop reading updated versions of the code?
The bot said:
It does appear that there’s an inconsistency in accessing files during longer conversations. Let me try to explain what’s going on:
- Session State & Context Switching: During our interactions, the system maintains a “session state” to remember what tools are available and what actions have already been performed. Over time, particularly in longer conversations, the session state can become inconsistent, which might cause issues with tool availability. It seems that when I initially accessed the zip files, the session was correctly configured, but something along the way caused the retrieval tool to become partially inactive, leading to this problem. This can explain why I could access the files initially but faced challenges later.
- Tool Resource Management: In certain cases, tools that involve resource-intensive operations, like file extraction, might have their access temporarily paused or disconnected to conserve system resources. If a file retrieval attempt fails multiple times, the system may mark the tool as unavailable to prevent resource strain, which could be what you’re observing.
- Session Timeout or File Service Issue: Another possible cause could be a timeout related to file storage or permissions, which might be changing mid-conversation. Each file you upload has specific temporary permissions, and if something changes in the handling of those permissions due to session length, server load, or policy, it could lead to failed attempts at accessing the files.
- Potential Bugs or Inconsistencies: There may also be bugs or inconsistencies in the file-handling logic that are specific to OpenAI’s internal infrastructure, causing unexpected behavior when dealing with multiple file uploads and extraction attempts over an extended conversation. This might also be why restarting a conversation seems to resolve the issue temporarily.
- Resolution Path:
- Session Refresh: Starting a new conversation often resets the tool capabilities, which restores my ability to use tools like file extraction.
